Regional Problem, Regional Solution

January 28, 1986|The Morning Call

We can no longer rely on the sanitary landfill as a long-term solution to the problem of solid waste disposal. The support for that dictum is simple, and it can be illustrated by the law of supply and demand. The supply of suitable land available for dumping the debris that we generate is limited and dwindling. The demand for that land is growing. At some point, the two lines on the graph will intersect and our society may well be inundated with its own garbage.

For that reason, and others, the plan for a Lehigh Valley incinerator makes a lot of sense. Those pundits who project trends and issue warnings for future generations have been warning us for years about the impending garbage crunch. It is nearly upon us. In America, we generate an average of 170 million tons of solid waste - garbage - each year. Ninety percent of that is deposited in landfills. Yet, landfills are being closed because they are running out of space, or because they cannot obtain the necessary state and/or federal certification for continued operation. Noxious wastes are leaching from many old dumps, contaminating water and the land itself. We simply cannot continue burying our wastes in the simplistic hope that, once out of sight, they will somehow just go away.

Solid waste will not just go away. We will continue to generate it. And it will continue to pile up - somewhere. Land is a finite resource. The supply we have now is the supply we have to use until it is exhausted. As crisis- oriented as this society may be, let's hope that the transition from merely dumping garbage to creatively reducing its bulk and toxicity through incineration will be made without the pressure of crisis hanging over our heads.

There are numerous questions of chemical safety, of proper maintenance, of maintaining the high standards to be set for construction and operation of the plant. There are, too, the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) fears of those who may live near the proposed plant's site.

The proposal to collect and incinerate solid wastes from across the Lehigh Valley has drawn significant support from a broad base of area communities. That support has shown that initial plans for the plant underestimated the demand for such a facility. Sensibly, the scope of the operation has been increased and will, it is hoped, serve the solid waste needs of the Valley for many years to come.

In completing the current planning stages for the incinerator, municipal officials must keep in mind the overall goal, the strategic view - the impending crisis. Bureaucratic slights and petty concerns and territorial bickering must not be permitted to sidetrack or delay the completion of this project. We have a regional problem in the disposal of our solid waste. We must pull together with regional concern and cooperation to provide a safe, economical and timely solution to that problem.